Islam: Empire of Faith
What is Islam? Who is Muhammad? This is a documentary narrated by Ben Kingsley about Islam and attempts to answer these questions. The first part deals with the life of the Prophet Muhammad, his early life, his encounter with God Almighty and the birth of the Islam.
1. Prophet Muhammad and the Rise of Islam. Islam would become the revitalizing force of a barbaric Arabia, returning people to God and bringing back the monotheistic message of Christianity and Judaism in its most powerful way. Islam Women were given rights over there husbands, racism was annihilated and the rich were made equal to the poor.
2. The Awakening. This part relates the golden age of Islam. A time of great learning when Europe was steeped in the Dark Ages. The building of great works of architecture, reading, writing, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy. Even before the printing press Muslims would have hundreds of scribes writing all at once so they would learn and reproduce the writings.
3. The Ottomans. This portion deals with the growing Ottoman Empire, which would control the bridge between 3 continents: Africa, Europe and Asia. This empire would begin at the close of the Crusades until World War I, from the 1300s to 1923. They would rule the entire Middle East and make there way into Europe. Before there was the state of Israel, there was great peace in the Holy Land regulated by the Ottomans.
In the opening of this documentary, the narrator translates" La illaha illa Allah"as "There is no god except god" which is not correct. The correct translation should be"There is no god except Allah"from the perspective of Islam. The word "Allah" is personal name of ONE and ONLY ONE being who is the ultimate creator of this universe.
I enjoyed watching this doc because it's a good example of humanity from the past - but not so different from today. The USA (under the flag of Christianity) is bombing the crap out of Islamic countries (promoting Islams as "terrorists") for something they want (oil) and using force to get their way "but" justifying their means using propaganda... no different to the major political parties trying to win office or the big duopoly corporations trying to consume their competitors financially. It's all "big picture" stuff people, stand back and reflect, you may not be completely comfortable with your own examples in life....
It is pity that so many people ,at least of those who commented above ,that they didn't know what is Islam is and they are still bound to the believes stuck to their minds . Islam is for you ,for me and for all man kind .It has the solutions for the troubles that are blighting humanity nowadays .All what you need ,those who are staggering with hatred loads to Islam, is just go and read about it ,know about it and then judge .See what is most problem that you are facing in your daily life and try testing the Islamic solution for .It fails or let you down you can then declare the verdict .
Islam is the panacea for all ailments .
Excuse my English .
with love for all humans that Islam prohibits killing them .
I found it to be a very good documentary, it really was a fact based historical account. The people who seem to criticize it seem to feel threatened by it. Its almost as if its unbearable concept that Islam is not the monster in the closet they have been taught to believe. This addresses Islam, not the culture of some of the countries in the region, they are two different things.
to @MARD and CRIS HEATH
I am not commenting here to defend islam as islam does not need my defence but I cant remain silent when u people discus my religion my PROPHET S.A.W even without knowing the facts. its a moral rule that when u don't know somethnd u should not discuss it. it will show only ur ignorance. but I can tell u what I know though I know little but its true as my heart accepts it. not that I belong to a muslim family so I am a muslim. I am muslim from my heart and soul. hav u people ever noticed why non muslims disgrace our Prophet S.A.W ( although his grace cant b lestened by anything). have u have seen or heard any muslim disgracing hazrat EISA A.S( whom cristians call jesus) or hazrat Mosa A.S( whom jewds call their prophet). NO never because islam teaches us to believe in them they are Allah's Prophets we cant even imagine disgracing any of Allah'messenger. that's one of the proofs who is true and who is not
secondly in one of comments I read references from HOLY QURAN. listen if I tell u a story that a man murdered someone and police killed him and u take ''only police killed him'' from my story and tell everyone that police is bad as it kills everyone then it will b only ur foolishness.the references u quoted hav a whole background. Quran is for all humanity not only for muslims. it tells us the way of living. hav u ever noticed that why in spite of all these propagandas and lies islam is flourishing. even after 9/11 the rate of ppl converting to islam has increased much from past. as u r confused then read English translation of whole QURAN may ALLAH give you hidayat.
TO @MARD I AM not commenting here to defend islam as islam does not need my defence but I cant remain silent when u people discuss my Allah my PROPHET SALLALH U ALAIHI WA AALAHI WASALM its a moral rule that when u don't know about anything u should not comment or discus it. but I can tell u what I know though I know little but it is true as my heart accepts it. not that I belong to a muslim family so I am a muslim I am muslim from my heart and soul. have you people ever noticed why non muslims disgrace our PRophet SAW. have you ever listened or heard any muslim disgracing hazart EISA A.S or hazrat MOSA A.S. no, never because our religion teaches us to believe in them they are Allah's prophets we cant even imagine disgracing any of ALLAH's messengers that's a proof who is believer and who is not
secondly in when of comments I read references from Quran e pak. if I tell u a story that a man murdered someone and police killed him and you take only"police killed him'' from my story and tell everyone that police is bad as it kills every one then it should b only ur foolishness. Quran tells us the way of living it is not only MUSLIMZ holy book its for all humanity. the references u quoted hav a whole background. u know people in Makkah used to bury their daughters as they considered them a thing of humiliation and now in western countries women are only toys of men ISLAM gives us respect and protection. have u ever noticed that why in spite of all this propaganda and liaes islam is flourishing even after 9/11 the rate of people turning to islam has increased much from past. if u are confused then read English translation of QURAN. u will know every thing
Assalamu alaikum... From what i read above, I came to understand how many People especially the non-Muslims still remain ignorant about the Golden Islam. In my own view, I will attest thatt no religion is as Perfect as Islam. I've had the intention of replying to most of the comments here, but I dont't think it could be possible with me, but in a nutshell, I will rather say one or two things:
-Talking about Science, historically even before the Muslims in the Islamic Golden Ages, we've had Islamic Prophets that were Scientists. Take examples of Prophet Nuuh (Noah), the first Engineer in the world. He made the Ark. Prophet Dawud was a Foundry/Metallurgical Engineer. Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon), the Son of Prophet Dawud (David) was the first person on earth to produce Soap. Prophet Idrees (Enoch) was the first Person to use a pen and write. To mention just a few. Coming down to the era of the likes of Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Geber), the founder of Algebra, Fakhrud-Deen Ar-Raazi (Rhazes), Imam Al-Ghazali
Lmaoooo. Non Muslims belive they know more than actual Muslims?? Why, because you pulled out a bunch of verses and hadith with the word "kill" in them?
I'm a Muslim so why am I not blowing myself up? Or waging war on my Christian neighbors?
Some people will open their hearts and understand what Islam is, but for the majority of commenters, you will not listen to reason, that is why you are a non believer. All I can say is; you will finally believe on the Day of Judgement. But by then it will be too late. Let is hope Allah has mercy on your soul.
All religion is superstition . Some are much more toxic than others. Islam is the worst, being stuck in the barbaric seventh century . Attempts to excuse or glorify this backward fantasy death cult is shameful. Christianity has had it's evil moments but at least has evolved somewhat instead of regressing into fanaticism and ignorance .
The world will be a better place when the murdering thugs that this film glorifies are simply no more. They declared war on us. We didn't start this but we will finish it like how modern humans did to neanderthals.
I havent read all the coments but reading the few from top, if u r talkng about wars and violences, you should then also have a look into what is happening in afghanistan, palestine, and yemen. And who is the master mind. They are not muslims who are causing all the sufferings sweet heart. They are your people. Non muslims.
Respect and admiration is a two way street.
You won't find any documentaries in the islamic world that acknowledge what the West has done for the planet (knowledge mainly). So why should I sit here fawning over a culture that has openly stated it is at war with mine?
I know that some of Islam's early scholars were some of the brightest minds on the planet. But what has Islam achieved since then? It has regressed. They used to have some of the best astronomers in the world. Now all they do is fight each other.
Sorry but I'm not in the mood to fawn over a culture that loves war. The West is not much better, I will acknowledge that much. Both sides love war as much as they love knowledge, its just that the West are doing both at the same time, whilst Islam languishes in war, and war only.
Sorry, but here's one Western boy who will not accept pom-pom waving for Islam. Yes it used to be a lot more than whats its about today, I dont need a doc to tell me that. But what is it today? Make a documentary about Islam today. There will be lots of fascism and blood in it. A regressed culture, dont try to make me sit here and feel respect for a culture that has slept in its own ignorance while you accuse mine of being ignorant at the same time.
I've read a few dozen comments here and it is obvious to me that a lt of people like to point fingers at religions being mistaken in quests for power, yet the history shows that ideas can not be mistaken or hunger for war or power, people do that and they often use commonly accepted ideas and beliefs to force people to follow them, e/g by saying: god commands it, or jesus himself wants it.
That said, it strikes me as odd that people in the 21st century can still think that god is a being, while the evidence shows that it is not. God is the source of everything and it is everything and it's will is to exist only and it surely doesn't care how we live or die, the universe is fine with any and all outcomes. Good or bad are just our oppinions. I like to think that stealing and rape is bad. God however couldn't care less either way. It will continue exisiting either way.
But what I find even stranger is that people nowadays can say that there is no god at all, while science has proved that it originates from somewhere and it is all connected. I think that we would all be better off if we at least acknowledge that everything exists and is connected through physical laws (of which a lot have not yet been discovered by man) and by accepting that there is no plan, no good nor bad but what we choose for ourselves. God doesn't think and it definately doesn't need us, it just is and we have to work with what we've got.
If I have learned anything from this documentary or any other (probably very flawed account of any historical event) is that it is probably best if we at least try to learn from and with eachother and not destroy things just because it doesn't fit in our views.
It's a good video to get a well produced view on Arab/Muslim expansion, narrated by Ben Kingsley, but all the speakers in it are not remotely critical, which doesn't make for an objective view. It is a glamorized version of history, glossing over centuries of brutal forced conversion to Islam, under the propaganda of unification (though I'm sure the message was gladly accepted by the many marginalized peoples of the regions they conquered.) That Christians and Jews were not immediately killed or enslaved, though not treated equally by any means and taxed heavily, is no consolation prize to the extremely violent expansionist agenda. Violent expansion isn't unique to Muslims however to try and glorify it under the banner of a peaceful movement is absurd. It's sad that the enlightened era of Muslim learning and discovery, a truly positive aspect of the culture when the rest of the world was in the dark ages, is overshadowed in some ways by radical fanaticism and hatred. There are many peaceful Muslims, but even if radical Islam is a small percentage, a small percentage of 1.6 billion, is a lot. As for the rest, in many Arab countries, basic freedoms are not respected, freedom for women, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy. The idea as stated in the description that there was peace under the Ottoman occupiers until the formation of Israel is completely wrong and stating such has an immediate anti Israel bias. If you want a clear picture, dont listen to any unquestioning pro or anti Muslim or pro or anti Israel films. Get the facts, weight them, and try to understand, there are no easy answers in a long history of tribal warfare.
Search for the truth and search as deep as you possibly can, all of you who have criticized Islam have no right to because you know nothing about it, you never ask yourself what if? you don't have the balls, you listen to what your parents tell you, what your community tells you, don't be deaf dumb and blind, open your eyes, clear your mind, judge stuff in an impartial way, read the torah, the new testament, and the quran. I have read all three, found the truth pretty quickly, Seek the truth, don't seek the acceptance of those around you, and building up on their ridiculously s*upid stance's. Seek the truth, because any book could have been hampered with, how can you know what the truth is, when you have only read one book. How can you let those around you decide what your beliefs are, when you, do you ever ask yourself what if you just might be wrong? if you don't you are not too wise, or you are scared. Open the books and read from start to end, then you can judge the book, and say whether it is God Almighty that sent it, or if it is a man made story, because if it were sent by God then surely he would reveal the truth onto you if he wished it..
I want to learn about Islam, and i am certainly not going to in a
documentary made by PBS were the only people allowed to talk are white
Americans, i mean how ridiculous is that ?
Would you trust a bunch of
Chinese "experts" to explain to you American capitalism if you knew
nothing about it ? How backwards and lame is that ?
This
d̶o̶c̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶a̶r̶y̶ is of as much cultural value as an episode of
"catching a predator", and i believe it is deeply ignorant and insulting
to the people that believe in that religion to tell people to watch
this abomination for their homework.
Even the summary sounds like nonsense. Islam is, and always has been, one huge propaganda machine. An ugly, brutish invention, that tries to make itself look OK, by disguising its hideous face, under a veil of peace.
But we have seen the warts, and the disfigurement. We see it every day.
thereligionofpeace
I really have a hard time believing this documentary is legit. AT the moment it seems socially acceptable to demonize the history of Christianity and completely whitewash Islam.
The bottom line is that Mohammad claimed that god talked to him personally and told him how everyone should live. Then craploads of people died as he road around 'spreading his message'. How PBS could possibly turn this into a family movie is completely beyond me. They make it sound like he was riding around the desert handing out flowers and settling disputes until he finally died peacefully and despite his best efforts to keep people from worshiping him they did it anyway! lol.
They only mention his first wife. I guess that's because she was older then 9. If Jesus had married a 9 year old and PBS did a documentary on Christianity I'm sure they would have found a way to include that in the title.
I realize that Christianity has a rather bloody history but let's not forget that it started out as a group of pacifists led by Jesus and those people would rather die then fight. Many of them did die for this reason. What Christianity turned into is not my concern. What matters is what their leader taught and how they originally understood it.
This documentary makes it seem like Mohammad wasn't even there when people were getting killed.
All I can say after watching this extremely biased documentary is an equivalent would be having Arabs make one on the growth of the U.S.A. saying conquering Indians was awesome, and forcing them to convert to American culture was necessary so America could grow it's empire. And America was very good and tolerant to the Indians like the Cherokee for example not really stealing their land, and Black slaves were not kidnapped, but recruited by nice white people holding their hands while leading them around to grow the wealth and power of the American empire, and Florida was a tired old Spanish shrinking outpost that needed to be seized. Mexico too needed half it's land taken so America would become a superpower and also have a couple of Americans commenting as well just so it's good. It's more than funny that the west Europe and America can now criticise themselves for past imperialist wrongs but apparently they cannot criticise Islamic imperialism??? I can understand Muslims refusing to look at the evils they have done (Which is something they really NEED to do if they want to move into the modern world and get out of the dark ages!) But the west? are we really this scared or apologetic with political correctness? Even the Mongols got a break in this documentary, I guess cause most of them converted to Islam? I guess if most of Europe converted the crusaders would get a little bit of a break as well. Unless Islam sees what it has done it will continue to do the same; ethnic cleansing and continue with the same hate we see today. If Islam could even remotely criticise Jihad the same way we criticise the crusades there may be some hope but I won't hold my breath.
OMG the Christian children were "recruited" by the Ottomans for Janissaries!!!!??? They were Kidnapped forcibly taken from their parents!!! These talking heads are even U.S.A. university professors, have they no shame???? How you would you feel if I came with my army and stole your children???? These professors are not even middle easterners!!! Can we get someone to do a properly balanced documentary on Islam with SOME criticism not just it's all good???
Can you imagine an American documentary produced nowadays saying it was good to take Indian lands or have black slaves saying it really wasn't THAT bad for America to do they were just recruited, with a nice white guy holding their hands as he leads them to the cotton fields!!!
Hah hah real funny one, Muslims thought crusaders were just Byzantines making a nuisance of the themselves attacking the boarders! What a joke do these people get paid from the Saudi's? No mention of the Turks and Arabs attacking the east Roman Empire (Byzantium) since Muhammad's death, And being quite successful at it too! No mention of emperor Alexio's letter of help to the pope from the INVASION of Muslim Turks, no mention of the atrocities the Turks pulled off on the crusaders like huge pyramids of bones they made nope just concentrate ONLY on the crusaders atrocities, Muslims at the time would never massacre anyone so kind they were. no mention of robbing and killing the Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem either just Al Hakim hah the only Muslim to persecute Christians, So the Byzantines were being a nuisance defending their lands from invaders huh? something like what Europeans said about native Indians when they took their land in America. nice... such good apologists for Islam, they were good all others bad! mustn't say anything bad about Islam they might blow you up lol. Can someone make a document about Islam nowadays without bias?
Empire of faith?!? Really?!? How come?!? Are you seriously talking about Muhammed... and his God that says if are Muslim and converted then you must be killed... if you are NOT Muslim but you been invited and some how rejected then you must be killed, also if you are NOT Muslim but willing to, then you must only and only pray to God in Arabic... how an earth would the real and truth God says that... in fact does God only understands Arabic... WOW!
excuse me...led to its own demise...
This is what gets old and will never lead to any understanding. We preach how great every civilization was i.e. Greece, Rome, Japan, China, whatever. And then there were the Muslims. A civilization as great as any other, but for some reason, they were more horrible than all the rest. Well that is total BS. Every civilization has either degraded women, pursued slavery, or created war ad nauseam except for relatively few. It's about time everyone just knocked this self important pseudo intellectualizing; observe the best each had to offer and realize that any civilization that starts believing in its own propaganda perpetrated by a few who have great influence, will eventually be lead to its own demise. These petty Biblical feuds and distorted interpretations of religion, history and culture lead to nothing more than the bickering I see here. Just like Palestine and Israel. Get over it! Both sides need to admit they've F32ked up negotiations and agreements too many times for the rest of the world to tolerate their self righteous crap and unproductive aggression. Hamas, the Zionists. What a pain in the ass all of you are! But the bottom line is, the Arabs contributed much to civilization. America has contributed quite a bit as well. Advancements in technology, the Arts, (just as any other culture has) while at the same time destroying everything we usually come into contact with! So, maybe ALL of us should consider our own historical skeletons - shut the F43k up - and do some serious reflecting about it before it's too late.
With the Name of Allah,
Praise be to God who is Free of need of his creation, while his creation is in complete need of him, the most High, The Most Great.
I've only read the most recent posts so far so I will address them if God Wills.
Allah (swt), God, which in the Arabic language translates as, The God, The only One worthy of Worship. Even in the most fundamental aspects of Islam, my religion, there is a clear separation between what those believe to be true and what is reality, our reality. The reality and of which has always been our reality is that there is only One God. One being who has created all that is seen and unseen, what is known and unknown. Who has full knowledge of what came before, what is present and what will come after. Owner of the very fabric of time itself. A being outside of time, can we fathom an existence without time regulating it? A being who raised the sky without pillars, without a support. How can we be so arrogant to believe that we ourselves were created without a purpose?
God, our creator, who has created you and I, knows our purpose and has over the history of our existence sent messengers to guide us to that path. Is there not already laws that are set of which all living beings are governed on this earth? Man spends his entire life just trying to understand the wisdom and knowledge behind these rules and laws. So, why do we not think that God does not have a set way he wants us to live our lives?
This is Islam, a path, a way of life in submission, complete and utter submission to the One who created you. And if you turn up your nose in arrogance and believe that you are the master of your own-self I suggest you defy death, gravity, your need for air or water or food. I also suggest that you be the first of us to stop himself from defecating because if I was the master of myself that would be the first thing to go. Just a few suggestions...
Another suggestion, I would like anyone who reads this to truly seek out knowledge of what Islam is and who the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him truly was and what his Lord and our Lord sent with him as a message to us. Do it for your own souls, for surely, your Lord is Free of Need of his Creation, and has created a dwelling made of fire that is fueled by men and stones, made only for those who are ungrateful to their Lord the Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.